Round 7 (and Paraguay) Predictions
Well for Round 6, I got three points for picking the correct score of that oh-so-forgettable game between New Zealand and Central Coast, and Jacob the lad got a solitary point for picking the result but not the score of Perth vs Newcastle. Over the two rounds we've done this, we're 4:4 even. The system in this private tipping competition between myself and my son is 3 points for a correct result and score and 1 point for a correct result only.
Here are our predictions for this week.
Me:
Adelaide vs Central Coast
Adelaide 2:1
Perth vs New Zealand
Perth 3:0
Sydney vs Queensland
Queensland 1:3
Newcastle vs Melbourne
Melbourne 1:3
Jacob:
Adelaide vs Central Coast
Adelaide 3:0
Perth vs New Zealand
Perth 3:0 (we agree!)
Sydney vs Queensland
Sydney 2:1
Newcastle vs Melbourne
Melbourne 1:4
The match that really concerns me this weekend of course is the Socceroos vs Paraguay. I brought the son yesterday to Queen St Mall to see the heroes, and yeah, the reception was great and everything, but the boys did not seem happy somehow. Considering there were thousands of people screaming adoration at them, some of them kind of looked depressed. I now suspect that I know why, and frankly I think the FFA screwed up regarding Craig Moore.
Look, why couldn't they give the man a fine, and strip him of the captaincy? Too easy. FFA didn't just drop one of our top players, they threw a morale bomb into the whole team. Do we want to beat Paraguay or not? I'm thoroughly pissed off and my confidence for the boys has gone.
Had a look over at Jesse Fink's Blog at Fox on the Moore subject. The man (Fink) is a self-righteous, arrogant turd as far as I'm concerned, and I'm disgusted with many of my fellow Australians for not giving one of our boys any benefit of the doubt.
The other thing which has been crawling under my skin for days now is this whole 'give the retirees a sendoff' thingy. So we're going to start with a second goalkeeper for the sake of a ritual? What's more, a large portion of the lineup, and four substitutions, are being decided on the basis of this grand gesture? Great. Where does that leave Arnold's capacity to be clever? A lot of people are watching Arnold wondering if he is capable of running a clever tactical game, but it seems he's solved that one before we've even started. Once again, does Australia want to beat Paraguay? The Paraguayans must be laughing at us.
I'm picking Paraguay to win 3 zip. Still looking forward to the game though - just hope they're good goals!
On Paraguay, quite aside from my own reasons, Jacob was not optimistic anyway (he's more of a realist than his Dad). He reckons Australia will lose 2:0.
Here are our predictions for this week.
Me:
Adelaide vs Central Coast
Adelaide 2:1
Perth vs New Zealand
Perth 3:0
Sydney vs Queensland
Queensland 1:3
Newcastle vs Melbourne
Melbourne 1:3
Jacob:
Adelaide vs Central Coast
Adelaide 3:0
Perth vs New Zealand
Perth 3:0 (we agree!)
Sydney vs Queensland
Sydney 2:1
Newcastle vs Melbourne
Melbourne 1:4
The match that really concerns me this weekend of course is the Socceroos vs Paraguay. I brought the son yesterday to Queen St Mall to see the heroes, and yeah, the reception was great and everything, but the boys did not seem happy somehow. Considering there were thousands of people screaming adoration at them, some of them kind of looked depressed. I now suspect that I know why, and frankly I think the FFA screwed up regarding Craig Moore.
Look, why couldn't they give the man a fine, and strip him of the captaincy? Too easy. FFA didn't just drop one of our top players, they threw a morale bomb into the whole team. Do we want to beat Paraguay or not? I'm thoroughly pissed off and my confidence for the boys has gone.
Had a look over at Jesse Fink's Blog at Fox on the Moore subject. The man (Fink) is a self-righteous, arrogant turd as far as I'm concerned, and I'm disgusted with many of my fellow Australians for not giving one of our boys any benefit of the doubt.
The other thing which has been crawling under my skin for days now is this whole 'give the retirees a sendoff' thingy. So we're going to start with a second goalkeeper for the sake of a ritual? What's more, a large portion of the lineup, and four substitutions, are being decided on the basis of this grand gesture? Great. Where does that leave Arnold's capacity to be clever? A lot of people are watching Arnold wondering if he is capable of running a clever tactical game, but it seems he's solved that one before we've even started. Once again, does Australia want to beat Paraguay? The Paraguayans must be laughing at us.
I'm picking Paraguay to win 3 zip. Still looking forward to the game though - just hope they're good goals!
On Paraguay, quite aside from my own reasons, Jacob was not optimistic anyway (he's more of a realist than his Dad). He reckons Australia will lose 2:0.
posted by Hamish Alcorn at 11:39 am
3 Comments:
Great site Hamish. Keep up the good work. We've been neglecting our responsibilities since the World Cup but we're back now. We look forward to much discussion.
BTW Australia to win 1-0 for Poppa and Kalac's final game.
Damn good to hear from you Mr Squirrel!
Despite my pessimistic prediction, of course I hope you're right regarding the friendly tomorrow night.
Cheers!
Frank Arok, under whom, according to Les Murray, the Socceroos came of age, would not have agreed with the decision to suspend Moore. When Arok was asked why he let his players get away with revelry, he said (according to Murray), "I don't want altar boys and pussycats in my team. I want bastards, real bastards, who will act like bastards when facing an opponent on the field." (By the Balls p.175).
Now, a) I'm not saying this is a brilliant approach, all things considered, and, b) Moore is being accused of far less than these guys were getting up to, but isn't there some kind of judicious balance possible? Couldn't Moore have been punished (with a fine) without punishing the whole team and indeed the Australian fans as well?
If Craig Moore is a bit of a scalliwag, I love him all the more, especially because he can play football. Graham Arnold and the FFA people should figure out their relationship with their own mothers and learn to appreciate the humanity.
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